No Place Like London  Sweeney ToddHetalia 5
by BritanniaAngelique
Summary: Sweeney Todd   England  Anthony   Lithuania  Mrs. Lovett   America  Judge Turpin   Russia  Lucy   France  Beadle   Prussia  Johanna   Poland


Toris walked down the streets of London, lifting his bag higher onto his shoulder. He looked up, slowly, to see a beautiful young girl sitting by the window, appearing to be singing. He walked closer to her home, looking up at her.

_Green finch and linnet bird,__nightingale, blackbird,__how is it you sing?__How can you jubilate,__sitting in cages,__never taking wing?__Outside the sky waits,__beckoning, beckoning,__just beyond the bars.__How can you remain,__staring at the rain,__maddened by the stars?__How is it you sing__anything?__How is it you sing?_

Sang out the girl, Johanna, Sweeney Todd's daughter, and Judge Braginsky's ward.

_My cage has many rooms,__damask and dark.__Nothing there sings, __n__ot even my lark.__Larks never will, you know,__when they're captive.__Teach me to be more adaptive.__Green finch and linnet bird,__nightingale, blackbird,__teach me how to sing.__If I cannot fly,__let me sing._

She called. Yet, as suddenly as she had seemed to appear before Anthony's eyes, she turned, and seemed to disappear.

Toris slowly began to step back, almost running into an old beggar woman.

_Alms! Alms! For a miserable woman__. __On a miserable chilly morning..._

Cried the beggar woman, walking up to Anthony, her hands cupped. Toris pulled out a few coins, and put them in her dirty, and cold hands.

"Thank ye sir…" She said, turning to walk away. But, Toris stopped her.

"Ma'am, could you tell me whose house this is?" He questioned, turning his head just a bit.

"That's the great Judge Turpin's house, that is." She said, nodding a bit.

"And the young lady who resides there?" Anthony continued.

"That's Johanna, his pretty little ward… Keeps her snug, he does, all locked up… So don't you go trespassing there, or there's a good whipping for you, or any other young man with mischief on his mind." She said, turning away, and begging the other pedestrians for money.

Slowly, Anthony looked up to Johanna's window; entranced by the images he had seen of her earlier.

_I feel you, Johanna. I feel you. __I was half convinced I'd waken,__satisfied__ enough to dream you.__Happily I was mistaken, Johanna.__I'll steal you,__  
__Johanna. I'll steal you..._

He stood there, staring. Slowly, the mansion's doors opened, the Judge standing there, looking at him warmly.

"Come in, lad, come in." Said Judge Braginsky, beckoning Toris

Toris walked, a bit nervously, being lead into a darkened library by the Judge, looking around for Johanna.

"You were looking for Hyde Park, yes?" The Judge asked.

"Yes… It's terribly large on the map, and I keep getting lost…" Toris said quietly.

"Sit down, lad, sit down." The Judge said, smiling a bit, and pouring two snifters of brandy.

Toris sat down slowly. He was uncomfortable, unsure of what would happen to him, especially since talking with the beggar woman.

"It's embarrassing for a sailor to lose his bearings, but, well, there you are…" He informed the Judge, as a head full of silver hair, belonging to a man in a dark blue coat emerged. No introduction was made.

"A sailor, eh?" The Judge asked, facing him.

"Yes sir. The "Bountiful", out of Plymouth." Toris said, shakily, as the Judge appeared to loom over him, as he handed him the snifter of brandy.

"A sailor must know the ways of the world, yes? Would you say you are practiced, boy?" Asked Judge Braginsky, turning toward the bookshelf, running his fingers along large books, bound in pristine leather.

Toris was confused, and quite frankly, afraid. "Uhm, sir?" He asked, his voice shaking.

"Oh, yes... Such practices... The geishas of Japan... The concubines of Siam... The catamites of Greece... The harlots of India... I have them all here... Drawings of them..." Said Judge Braginsky, turning to face Toris. "All the vile things you've ever fantasized of doing to a woman."

This left Toris speechless, the fact that the Judge stood there smiling gently at him didn't help that fact.

"Would you like to see?"

"I-I think there's been some mistake." He said, standing.

"Oh, I think not. You gandered at my ward, Johanna. Yes sir, you gandered." The Judge said sternly, the silver haired man, the beadle, walking behind him.

Scared, Toris studdered, stepping slowly away. "I meant no harm." He said, nervously.

"Your meaning is immaterial. Mark me: if I see your face again on this street, you will rue the day you were born." He said, the Beadle grabbing Toris, dragging him through the mansion and tossing him out the door, into a dark, ominous and decrepit alley.

"Hyde Park… Down the street, take a right, then a left, you see?" Said the Beadle, pushing Toris into the ground, whacking him with a billy club, and stomping on him.

"You heard the Judge… Next time it'll be your pretty little brains all over the pavement." He said, pushing the end of his cane into Toris's forehead, and disappearing into the mansion.

Slowly, Toris managed to stand up, pulling his bag into his shoulder.

_I'll steal you, Johanna. I'll steal you. Do they think that walls can hide you? Even now I'm at your window. I am in the dark beside you. Buried sweetly in your yellow hair._

Toris sang, walking out of the alleyway weakly, and staring up at Johanna's window.


End file.
